Lowering bank fees: reading the statement and what to ask the bank

This month's bank statement. Between the salary and the supermarket sit short lines nobody reads: "account management fee", "transaction fee", "notification fee". 12 ILS here, 7 there, and another 4 for something nobody at home remembers asking for. Nobody has added them up for the year, and if someone asked you right now what you paid the bank in 2026, the honest answer would be "no idea".

The story told about this is that the bank takes what it wants and there is nothing to be done. Underneath sits a more personal one: "we're just not good at negotiating". So the old fixes swing between never checking at all, and one angry call with a threat to leave, after which you stay exactly where you were.

Part of you does not want to open this up: no awkward conversation with a banker, no polite "there's nothing we can do", and above all no discovering that you have been paying for years for things you never needed. As long as nobody checks, nobody has to feel like a sucker, and there is real comfort in that. Part of you wants something simple and fair: to pay only for what you actually use. There is sense in both, so the approach here involves no confrontation, and no embarrassment about asking.

Current account fees: why nobody notices them

This is not a lack of negotiating talent. Nobody ever showed you the total. A small charge that repeats every month stands out far less than a large one once a year, so it never gets checked.

There is another force at work. In 1988 William Samuelson and Richard Zeckhauser published, in the Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, the paper that named status quo bias: people tend to stay with the default even when an alternative suits them better. Not out of laziness, but because change takes a decision and a default takes none.

Fees are not the weather. They are a price like any other, and you are allowed to ask about it. A simple example shows why it matters: fees of 25 ILS a month are 300 ILS a year, and 3,000 over ten years. Not a life-changing sum, but one you deserve to know about.

A fee plan, not a fight: one number and three questions

The goal for the coming month: one annual total for your bank fees, and one conversation with three written questions. No confrontation, no threat to leave, and no shame about asking what something costs. Nobody needs to become a hard-nosed negotiator. One number and one page of questions are enough.

From the fee statement to the call

Stage 1: find the fee statement. On the bank's website or app, look for a fee summary or periodic fee statement. If you cannot find it, that is your first question for the bank: "where can I see all my fees for the past year?"

Stage 2: write down every fee. One line per type of fee: its name, how many times a month it is charged, what it costs, and what that comes to in a year. Often three or four fees turn out to make up most of the total.

In AlphaHome: the "Bank Fees / Card Fees" subcategory, under "Banks & Credit", with every fee recorded in it. The current-account file your bank exports comes in through the column-mapping wizard, and you assign the fee rows to the category in the preview. The expense list shows one month at a time, so you add up the annual total on paper, or give the category a budget with a yearly period, which is measured from January to the month on show. And the insights bell flags a charge that has appeared under the same name, at a similar amount, three months in a row, so a new fee that settles in does not stay unnoticed for long.

Stage 3: check which fee plans exist. Under the Banking (Customer Service) (Fees) Rules, 2008, in the consolidated version the Bank of Israel published on 1 April 2025, every bank must offer a basic plan (מסלול בסיסי), with up to 1 teller action and 10 direct-channel actions a month, and an extended plan (מסלול מורחב), with up to 10 teller and 50 direct-channel actions a month, and let any customer join. The bank may charge actions beyond the quota at the full tariff, and joining takes effect on the 1st of the month after you ask. Check each plan's price in your bank's tariff, and the current wording of the rules on the Bank of Israel site, before the call. The rules change, and which plan fits depends on how many actions you actually make.

Stage 4: a conversation with three questions. No speech required. A page with three questions and five minutes.

Three questions for the bank, and one request at the end

• What exactly am I paying for, and which fee was the largest over the past year?
• Which fee plan fits how I actually use the account, and what would it have cost me?
• What can change from next month, and when does it take effect?
• I asked for what we agreed in writing

0 of 4 done

The tone is that of a customer checking a price, not someone looking for a fight. "I noticed we paid X in fees over the past year. I'd like to understand what for, and see whether there's a plan that fits us better."

Stage 5: check again after two months. Something agreed on the phone is not yet a change on the statement. After two months, open the statement again and check that what was agreed actually took effect.

When the banker says no, or the call keeps slipping

What is stopping you from calling

What feels hardest about this conversation?

Pick the answer closest to yours. There is no wrong one.

It feels awkward to ask about moneyI'm sure they'll say noI don't have time for this

The banker says no. That is not your failure; it is an answer. Today: ask for the answer in writing, and ask "what can be changed?". Next time: check again in a year, with the new annual total. Moving to a different plan or a different bank is what some people consider at this point; the decision is yours.

You agreed a change, and nothing changed on the statement. It happens, which is exactly why there is a two-month check. Today: go back to the bank with the written summary. Next time: end every call by asking from which month the change should appear.

You have put off the call for three weeks. Putting off a call that feels awkward is natural, and a delay is not a refusal. Today: shrink the step; just find the statement and add it up. Next time: put a day and time for the call in the calendar, like any other appointment.

We ask about the price, even at the bank

As long as nobody asks, the fees keep leaving at the same amount, every month, quietly. That is not a disaster; it is simply what happens to a default nobody checks. Once there is one annual number and a page with three questions, the call stops being threatening and becomes one more price check.

At home it looks like this: whichever of you minds phone calls less makes the call, the other holds the page, and the yearly check goes in the calendar. Bank fees are only one line in an annual fixed-expense audit, and for the whole picture there is where does the money go. Management fees on savings and pension are a different story altogether, covered in management fees.

Ten minutes this week, with the bank's app open: the latest fee statement, this year's total, and three questions written on a page.